You are probably wondering what is the reason that your weight is still the same or even higher than before, even though you are doing exercise regularly and spending a lot of time and effort to reach your goal. You’ve just started a diet and saw some progress, but after two weeks, you no longer see any results… You have even started going to the gym and following some training programme that you have found on the Internet. You’ve started wondering what it might be that you are doing wrong. You’ve been limiting yourself from certain foods and you want to see some progress after each week. Now you feel desperate and want to quit because you probably think it’s your genetic and there is nothing you can do about it.
Before that, you want to make a final check on the internet and find an answer to your “failure”. Lucky you, we might have it for you. Let’s take a look at some of the most common mistakes that you might be making that could be the reason preventing you from losing weight.
#1 Bad Eating Habits
The most common reason for the scale to stay at the same place or even go up might be that you are overeating and you are not even aware of that. You are probably thinking, “But I’ve been on a diet for the last two weeks, that’s impossible.” This is a common trap that new beginners fall for. Even though you started eating “healthier,” it doesn’t mean that you will lose weight. There is a big difference between healthy eating and diet. The primary condition to lose weight is for you to be in a calorie deficit. What this means is that you have to burn MORE calories than you consume. Sure, you may have started making healthier food choices, but are you sure you are eating the right amount? If the answer is no, you might be consuming more calories than you burn, which means you are will not be able to lose weight.
Furthermore, are you sure you know what you should eat before or after training? What choices do you make when it comes to breakfast, lunch or dinner? Are you drinking enough fluids? In addition, it is common for people who haven’t exercised for a long time to consume much more food after training, in comparison to before, because training makes you hungrier and your body wants that spent energy back. This control and calorie deficit are of crucial importance.
#2 Stop Drinking Alcohol
Alcohol consumption has a large impact on weight status. Alcohol actually has hidden calories… Which are quite a lot, and nothing good comes from it! You’ve read that right, exactly how we said it. One gram of ethanol has seven calories. Now, if you do the equation, if you drink two beers for the night, that’s around 400 calories extra for the day. 400 calories and zero goes towards constructive processes like the calories you get from other foods. In other words, just stop drinking alcohol.
Do we need to say more about this? We hope you are still following us because we are just getting warmed up…
#3 The Impact of Stress
We all know that today’s life is full of stressful situations, both at work and in private life. Some people have taught themselves to fight such stress, by exercising regularly, and exercise helps them to make some decisions more easily and to empty their minds of unnecessary burdens. On the other hand, there are also individuals who have not learned to overcome stressful situations by going to the gym, but wait for the right moment to relieve themselves of stress and then start exercising.
Unfortunately, stress certainly has a negative impact on every individual. If you exercise under stress and you don’t know how to deal with it, you won’t lose any weight, and you may experience other problems such as headaches, tiredness, lack of concentration, and muscle cramps. Most importantly, high levels of stress may lead to emotional eating which gets you even further from your weight loss goals.
Our advice to you is: Fix your mind and offload your stress before you go to the gym, or embrace exercise as a way to relieve stress.
#4 Decreased Physical Activity
Maybe your level of physical activity is not enough to achieve the desired goal. Although you go to the gym regularly, it does not mean that you are active enough and that you burn enough calories in each training session. Are your training breaks too long? How long do you rest between each exercise and how long between rounds? Do you reject phone calls that you know will take longer and thus take up a lot of your time?
Your heart rate must be high if you want to burn calories and lose weight. If you are the type of person that goes by car to the office, then to the gym, and comes back home, then guess what, you lack physical activity! When was the last time you checked how many steps you made during the day? If you are not even close to 8-10k, then you have something to work on!
Here are some tips for you to help you achieve your goal:
- Try to walk during the day as much as possible
- Use the stairs instead of the elevator
- Reject the long phone calls during your training
- Try to exercise regularly, without skipping your workout
- Implement cardio in your training program always
- Keep your hurt rate up and try to change your exercise routine
#5 Give Your Training Program Time
Getting obsessed with the scale and weight might have the opposite effect. It’s an excellent thing to scale yourself every day; however, some people feel bad if they see the scale has gone up and it is much better to have patience and believe in the process. Most of the time, that’s water retention. So, for example, that can happen if you’ve consumed more salt or carbs on the previous day. However, after seeing that, you may panic, and the chance you start binging on food because “everything is lost” is high.
You also need to understand that things are not going as you want. Everybody is unique and sometimes you need more time to start seeing the progress and first results. That’s why a personal trainer is there to guide you and keep you motivated always. Give yourself enough time and strictly follow the plan that your trainer has created for you in order to lose weight. You will only see the benefit if you are dedicated enough and believe in the process.
Don’t give up that easily, and don’t let a scale scare you from achieving your goals, because maybe it’s your muscles that are growing, and it’s very likely that you going to start seeing changes on a scale soon.
Takeaway message
The most important rule for losing weight is for you to be in a calorie deficit every day. Being put under pressure raises our stress levels, and can also push us away from exercise and progress as well. Try to be physically active as much as possible for maintaining overall health and lose weight. Be patient, find something sustainable that feels seamless, and the results will be there! Try also to check your body composition status, believe in the process and watch how your body transform.
